An installation view of Ophiolite [Photo/Courtesy of Choi Centre•Cloud House]

Ocean levels rise, pollution expands, biodiversity shrinks, wildfires run amok…

As the entire ecosystem collapses, many contemporary artists such as Olafur Eliasson, Banksy and Benjamin Von Wong have become climate activists, creating work to raise awareness and imagine a more sustainable future.

Cao Minghao and Chen Jianjun, a Chinese artist duo based in Chengdu, and Adrien Missika, a French artist based in Berlin, have also been engaged in this endeavor. The three artists stood out among nine artists competing for the 2022 Choi Foundation Contemporary Art Award, a prize recognizing and supporting artists whose practices are imbued with environmentalism.

The works of the award winners were put together at Ophiolite at Choi Centre· Cloud House in Beijing, and the exhibit's title, inspired by an artwork by Cao and Chen, has made many viewers scratch their heads.

Ophiolites are rocks with green serpentine patterns, which were identified by scientists in the 1970s as ancient oceanic crust thrust upon continental crust. They are found in the mountain belts such as the Alps and the Himalayas, where they document the existence of former ocean basins. The discovery and study of ophiolites led scientists to form the plate tectonic theory, which proved that mountain ranges and trenches are sutures formed by the collision of land plates, redressing the prior conception that they are folds caused by the contraction of the Earth.

Mountain ranges and trenches are often viewed as natural physical barriers separating different species of flora and fauna and cultures. Exhibit curator Lu Yinghua, a juror of the award and director of Beijing's Inside-Out Art Museum, argues that "if we see those geological barriers as sutures, we can see that differences are not the natural cause of barriers, but rather the starting point and a synonym for communication and connection".

Lu proposes to look at the relationship between humans and nature through the same lens. She wrote: "Instead of viewing human beings and nature as two separate categories, we should consider them as an inseparable community, where the significance of connection and interrelation far outweighs separation and conflict."

Seeing ophiolites as a beautiful metaphor for suturing, Lu pointed out that those rocks have suggested a way for us to interact with others and the unknown, which, simply put, is to perceive differences and conflicts, not as a tendency for ruptures, but as an active suturing effort.

This photo shows the site of a traditional rammed earth dwelling after the earthquake, part of Water System Refuge#2 by Cao Minghao and Chen Jianjun. [Photo/Courtesy of the artists]

The Beijing exhibit, featuring selected works of the three award-winning artists, who have long been focused on ecological issues, shepherds audiences to gain such a perspective.

Cao and Chen, both in their early 40s, started their partnership in 2010, and in 2015, they launched the long-term art project Water System Project in Southwest China's Sichuan province. The project is based on research, dialogues, and diverse collaborations reflecting on the historical changes and contemporary realities of the Dujiangyan Irrigation System, a water conservancy project dating back more than two millennia.

Over the years, the duo has created several works within this project covering images, videos, installations, publications and workshops, realized through the collaboration between the artists and their partners, including locals, scientists from various disciplines, and environmental organizations.

For example, to create Observing Point (2019), part of the Water System Project, the duo collaborated with Wang Yizhong, a local farmer responding to the heavy deforestation on the upper reaches of the Minjiang River, where Dujiangyan is located. He began planting trees in 1998 and attracted many locals to follow suit. Over the years, nearly 80,000 trees have been introduced into the local landscape to safeguard the surrounding ecology.

Another important component of the project is the yet three-part Water System Refuge (2019-2022), which has been exhibited widely around the world, including at the 13th Shanghai Biennale (2020-2021) and Documenta fifteen in Kassel (2022). The creation of the project has led the duo to travel extensively, mainly to the villages around the Minjiang River. With a non-anthropocentric perspective, they observed, researched and interacted with locals, geologists and scientists, to create videos, installations and publications, which shed light on local ecological wisdom and traditional techniques in reconstruction after the Dujiangyan area was hard hit by the Wenchuan Earthquake in 2008.

"By always learning from each other and exploring new relationships among materials, species and human society, we aim to create interdisciplinary and multi-species communities to generate alternative approaches," Cao said at the exhibit's opening on June 22.

Geological Monument I, a photo by Adrien Missika. [Photo/Courtesy of the artist]

Missika, another award winner, is also acclaimed by critics for the non-anthropocentric perspective in his work.

Born in Paris in 1981, Missika is a globe-trotter who uses a wide range of media, spanning photography, video and installation, to share his findings from his worldwide travels. The photos and videos on display at the Beijing exhibit, recording his interactions with plants and rocks, show his sustained interest in the relationship between humans and nature.

In Geological Monument I, a photo, Missika posed in front of a monumental rock; the contrast of their sizes can easily evoke  awe for nature's vastness and mysterious might.

In Cure, a series of video installations, Missika is seen braving Berlin's summer heat waves to water the weeds struggling at the city's curbs and corners or gently wiping the dust-covered plant leaves. According to the artist, his service can help cure those ignored, crestfallen plants in urban areas where almost all activities are human-centered.

"Missika's work carries a spirit of humor and self-reflection, pointing out how we can humbly approach our surroundings with various practical and modest methods. Cao and Chen, on the other hand, present us with a broader and historically grounded perspective, revealing distant realms that cannot be reached by ordinary vision but are equally relevant to us," Lu remarked.

Part of the Croisements Festival, the Choi Foundation Contemporary Art Award, was co-launched in 2021 by the French Embassy in China and the Jonathan KS Choi Foundation, a private foundation established in 2003 by Hong Kong entrepreneur Jonathan K. S. Choi. Each year, the prize is presented to one Chinese artist and one French artist, who are each awarded 15,000 euros, encouraging them to create a new artwork that can raise public awareness about environmental issues.

The exhibition runs until September 17.

Where and when:

Tuesday - Sunday 11:00 - 18:00; Choi Centre · Cloud House, No.16 Huantie Zhixian Section A, Jiangtai, Chaoyang District, Beijing